Welcome

My name is Colin Hurst and at the beginning of October 2014 I retired as vicar of St. Andrew's parish church in Wigan in the diocese of Liverpool. This blog contains my own thoughts on the week by week readings from the Revised Common Lectionary; what I glean from them, assume from them, link together from them.

NOTE: These thoughts are either the whole or part of my Sunday sermon, homily, meditation or talk, and offerings on other days too. St. Andrew's congregation encouraged me some years into my time as vicar to speak in a more extemporaneous fashion, without notes, because when I do, I speak with more passion and they felt that what I said was much more personal to them as individuals and they engaged with it better. Well, that's what they said.

The problem with speaking 'off the cuff', is that I am prone to make more mistakes and so you will hear theological, biblical and doctrinal 'blunders' in the audio versions. I often went away wondering why I'd said something which afterwards I realised was, if not suspect, just plain wrong. So I have to pray that my mistakes don't detract too much from or spoil the overall message.

In any case, my sermons aren't meant to be a scholarly treatise or even theologically 'sound'. After all, my thoughts are not God's thoughts. And neither are they yours. What I do hope is that my interpretation will have some relevance to day to day life because the gospel is meant to be lived and to make a difference to the world. If this blog helps you in your walk with God then offer Him thanks and praise. If the postings are a hindrance then discard them. In either case, I hope you find them interesting. Please feel free to let me have your feedback on anything you read or let me know what the readings say to you. That way, we'll learn from one another. Hope you enjoy reading.

Contact

If you want to receive the blog posts as they are published you can subscribe through the RSS feed or sign up as a follower. If you would like to contact me directly by e-mail you can write to me at colin@mythoughtsarenotyourthoughts.com